Nobel Prize in Medicine Connects Berlin Lab Discoveries to Parasite Research in Hyderabad

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. Nishith Gupta, a professor of Biological Sciences at BITS Pilani in Hyderabad and founder of the Intracellular Parasite Education and Research Labs, collaborated with Peter Hegemann at Humboldt University of Berlin for decades. Their joint work extended optogenetic approaches from neuroscience into the study of Toxoplasma gondii, an intracellular parasite that infects humans, mammals, and birds.

The Discovery

The Nobel-winning research began with Peter Hegemann wondering how a single-celled alga swims toward light. In the early 2000s, Hegemann and Georg Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, an algal protein on the cell surface that opens a channel for charged ions and creates an electrical impulse when illuminated by blue light. In 2005 and 2007, Karl Deisseroth showed that introducing this protein into rat and mouse neurons allowed blue light to trigger nerve signals. Meanwhile, Mr. Gupta, Mr. Hegemann, and other researchers used a light-regulated enzyme called adenylate cyclase to produce cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate, or cAMP, which acts as a messenger inside cells. Published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 2013, this study showed that light controls the enzyme, which produces cAMP to regulate how the Toxoplasma parasite enters, moves through, and exits cells.

Collaboration

Mr. Gupta worked alongside Mr. Hegemann in Berlin, where their laboratories were located in neighbouring departments with joint funding from the German Research Foundation. After Mr. Gupta moved to India, Mr. Hegemann continued supporting his research through Mr. Gupta's Wellcome Trust-DBT Senior Fellowship project at BITS Pilani, with team members visiting Berlin. Mr. Gupta notes that light is now a way to intervene, test, and uncover cause-and-effect relationships.

Context

Optogenetics uses light-sensitive proteins to let scientists control specific cells or biological processes with light. The 2026 Nobel Prize highlights how fundamental research on proteins in simple organisms like algae can eventually lead to powerful tools for exploring brain function and infectious diseases.